CH 114.2

Fan Xiangnan, upon discovering the sudden appearance of a large number of Zergs surrounding the flagship and quickly besieging it, cleverly did not let the soldiers go into battle, but instead adopted a defensive stance using only artillery fire, while trying to ascend to a safe position to contact Chu Rong, who would arrive in the next step.

However, the Zergs seemed to have seen through his intentions and forcibly trapped him in between two layers of “clouds,” preventing him from moving at all.

The longer time dragged on, the more unfavorable the situation became for them. Just as he was preparing to use the flagship’s highest weapon to blast a way out and retreat directly, gunfire suddenly came from above. Tan Shengwei was the first to get excited and said, “It’s the Marshal! It must be the Marshal!”

Fan Xiangnan relaxed his expression, immediately ordered his subordinates to turn the cannons, and raised his voice, “Coordinate with the artillery fire above to sweep the Zergs and ascend! Try to dock with the allied ships!”

The spirits of the people were lifted, and they hurriedly responded with excitement and began to act.

The power of the flagship’s bombardment was immense. The “clouds” quickly thinned out, and the Xiang family flagship above took the lead in deploying soldiers, allowing them to clear out a safe area and then the two flagships took the opportunity to open their hatches for docking, formally merging.

“Bring the soldiers back together and continue the bombardment. Get ready to land.”

Chu Rong ordered, then walked briskly outside.

Xiang Lingyun was startled and quickly caught up, asking, “Marshal Chu, where are you going?”

“Deep into battle,” Chu Rong replied without looking back, his figure disappearing quickly at the entrance of the command room. Lin Zhen and the others quickly gathered their belongings and followed, their actions swift and their momentum unstoppable, their efficiency impeccable.

Half of the people in the room were gone in an instant. The confused and unsure commanding officer tentatively spoke, “Um… does that mean I’m in charge next?”

Xiang Lingyun snapped back to reality, glanced at this usually shrewd and stable but now inexplicably foolish commanding officer, couldn’t help but glare at him, and said, “Who else do you think would take over? Go quickly, don’t delay!”

The commanding officer also realized that he had asked a very foolish question and quickly cleared his throat to adjust his state, standing at the command seat where Chu Rong had just stood.

The soldiers quickly regrouped, and the flagship continued its bombardment, purposefully clearing out only a portion of the Zergs in order to create a landing path.

Fan Xiangnan welcomed Chu Rong and Lin Zhen, who arrived quickly, and immediately carefully assessed Chu Rong’s situation. Seeing that his breath was normal, his aura stable, and his condition even better than before the incident, he completely relaxed, couldn’t help but excitedly step forward, and called out, “Commander!”

“You’ve worked hard during this time,” Chu Rong nodded in response to his call, first taking out a few small boxes and handing them to him, then continuing to walk towards his own flagship, quickly saying, “These contain the new generation of manually-operated mechas, with a synchronization rate of 100%. They have already been adjusted according to each soldiers’ physical data in advance. Distribute them immediately according to the numbers on them, and mobilize all the squads familiar with manually operated mechas to prepare to land on the junk planet with me.”

Fan Xiangnan quickly adjusted back to his state upon hearing this, and followed suit, saying, “I’ll go take care of it.” With that, he left directly at the intersection and headed towards the area where the soldiers were gathering.

Lin Zhen, who was following Chu Rong, frowned and said, “Commander, now that the Zergs outside are so dense, wouldn’t it be too dangerous to directly deploy soldiers to land?”

“It’s okay,” Chu Rong replied, affirming, “Those Zergs will behave.”

Chu Rong quickly took over the command of the Chu family flagship, swiftly surveyed the situation inside the flagship, then contacted the Xiang family flagship, separated and docked, and was no longer worried about the Zergs’ attacks. They directly plowed through them and descended towards the junk planet. They quickly counted the soldiers who would accompany him ashore and made preparations to disembark.

As if sensing their intention to forcibly land, the Zergs’ attacks became even more frenzied. The scattered Zergs around began to converge towards them, their numbers increasing and their density thickening, forcibly dragging the flagship into mid-air. The Zergs inside the flagship were all gnawing at the protection shell with all their might, while those outside were trying to find gaps to penetrate, as if they were preparing to dismantle the flagship.

“Marshal! If we keep this up, the protection shell of the flagship won’t hold!”

The Xiang family’s commanding officer had never experienced such a brutal breakthrough tactic before, and was almost scared to the point of being unable to breathe by the sight of the Zergs swarming around them. Holding on to his composure for a while, he finally couldn’t help but shout out in panic.

Although the shell of the flagship was made of tenth-grade material, it couldn’t withstand the biting of the Zergs. Moreover, with so many Zergs, it was possible to overturn the flagship. With so many ants, they could even kill an elephant!

“Soldiers, prepare to land.”

Chu Rong’s voice came over, still calm.

The Xiang family’s commanding officer glanced at the hellish scene outside, unable to contain his panic, and shouted in disbelief, “Land? Marshal, are you trying to get us killed?”

“Open the hatch and land!”

Chu Rong’s voice came again, and at the same time, the Chu family flagship in front opened its hatch first. The Xiang family’s commanding officer was about to retort with words like “treason” and “unwelcome advice,” but saw that all the Zergs that had been attacking them suddenly stopped moving, as if frozen in place.

“Whoa?”

He widened his eyes, all his words choked back in his throat.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

After the gunfire, the motionless Zergs around were easily swept away, revealing a clean space and the figures of the Chu family’s mecha squad descending rapidly towards the ground after exiting the ship.

“After the soldiers safely land, the flagship will split into two sides, forming an encirclement. Aim at the central and surrounding areas and bombard to ensure the safety of this area,” Chu Rong’s voice continued to come through. The voice, which had been somewhat blurred by the influence of the Zerg’s neural waves, suddenly became extremely clear, as if even the signals in this area had returned to normal.

The commanding officer of the Xiang family was dumbfounded. Before he could react, he saw the Chu family flagship quickly closing its hatches after deploying the soldiers and retreating. It began to bombard the area where the Zergs had been “frozen,” quickly clearing out a safe space.

The Zergs that could still move from the outer layer rushed in, but they were once again “frozen” and easily pierced by the artillery fire.

“So this is SSSS-level spiritual power…” The commanding officer looked at the large area around him where all the Zergs were “frozen” until they reached the ground, his palms sweating, speechless.

‘This… this is too strong.’

Xiang Lingyun was brought back to his senses by his exclamation, hurriedly stepped forward, and slapped him hard, shouting, “What are you standing there for, dumbfounded? Take action! Don’t waste the safe area Chu Rong cleared out! Hurry up! Increase the firepower!”

The commanding officer regained his senses and quickly took action.

At this time, the two flagships were already very close to the ground, and soldiers were landing one after another.

After clearing out the safe area, the flagships immediately deployed all the small warships stored inside, forming a scattered encirclement suspended above the soldiers landing on the ground, and continued to bombard the area where the Zergs were “frozen” to ensure the “cleanliness” and safety of this area.

Chu Rong piloted a manually-operated mecha made by Master Ren himself. After landing on the ground, he restrained the Zergs with his spiritual power while directly aiming at the ground and launching a brutal bombardment.

With the enhancement of his spiritual power, the power of his full-force attack increased even further. Soon, he blasted a large hole in the ground, revealing the true ground covered by spiritual stones underneath.

Sure enough, it was the same old trick.

He put away his weapon and commanded the soldiers to defend against any Zergs that attempted to charge in solo while diverting most of his spiritual power to infiltrate the interior of the planet. After finding what he wanted, he slowly compressed his spiritual power into a thin blade—

After upgrading his spiritual power, his strength had qualitatively improved, which was reflected in many aspects, such as his control over spiritual power.

His spiritual power, transformed into a thin blade, penetrated into the interior of the planet at a terrifying speed, and then exploded after touching a structure deep underground.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The ground began to shake, and there was a muffled thunder-like roar from underground. Then, a crack suddenly appeared, growing larger and larger, with rocks and soil splattering everywhere. A whirlwind spun out from the crack, forcefully clearing a passage to the underground.

“Enter by team, prepare for the flagship to land, and guard the crack!”

Chu Rong commanded, then took the lead in flying towards the crack. At the same time, his spiritual power continued to spread out, firmly surrounding the detected building area underground, gradually infiltrating inside.

“Hiss, hsss shhh—!”

The screeching of the Zergs came from the crack and quickly approached. Chu Rong’s spiritual power trembled, accelerating his descent. When he saw the Zergs, he immediately aimed the cannon at them and fired several shots. The bodies of the Zergs exploded, clearing the path.

Fan Xiangnan and Lin Zhen led the squad behind him, helping to clear out the remaining Zergs, excited and proud.

‘The commander is already so powerful! This is… this is victory! Our only goal is victory!’

Chu Rong rushed forward with an unstoppable momentum, and the Zergs behind couldn’t slow him down. The soldiers behind gradually couldn’t keep up, and a long queue formed as they fell behind.

“Maintain formation, don’t fall behind or get separated. I’ll leave marks along the way for you,” Chu Rong commanded.

Chu Rong’s voice echoed through the public channel, followed by the distant sound of intense gunfire from deep below, gradually fading away until it was no longer audible. The soldiers couldn’t believe it — they thought Marshal Chu’s speed was already fast enough, but they never expected him to be even faster!

In the depths of the crevice, at the forefront of the team, Chu Rong wanted to accelerate again, but when he found that the mecha seemed to have reached its limit, he frowned slightly. He had to slow down the downward momentum, only allowing his spiritual power to rapidly penetrate into the target area.

Although the mecha he piloted was a special-grade one made by Master Ren and the Master Shang together, it was not like Rong Tian, not made with magic arrays and true alien beast tendons by Qiao Zhiya.

Although this mecha was also made based on the concept of the Knights, with a combination of spiritual power and manual control mode, and its appearance was infinitely close to Rong Tian’s, the feel was still far off, and the upper limit was too low, unable to allow him to unleash his full potential like Rong Tian.

‘Qiao Zhiya…’

Suddenly, Qiao Zhiya’s exhausted appearance while working on the unfinished mecha frame flashed in his mind. His heart tightened, and his spiritual power surged, but his expression became colder — he needed to pull the monster out and dig out the secrets in his mind.

The screechingof the Zergs and the sound of gunfire merged into one, and the darkness grew thicker. Despite sweeping out with his spiritual power, Chu Rong found no trace of the monster. He sneered, finally approaching the previously scanned building area, clearing out the incoming Zergs, and swiftly rushing into the exposed metallic structure—it was here, the place where evil hid.

Above ground, above the crevice, the two flagships firmly guarded on both sides. The protective shield of the flagships, which had not been used much, finally opened. It was as if they sensed their ability to protect themselves. The spiritual energy covering the sky was withdrawn, the frozen Zergs moved again, and they charged towards the flagships.

“Ah!”

The commanding officer, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, couldn’t help but exclaim, provoking Xiang Lingyun’s glare of disappointment. He said, “What kind of reaction is that! Once the battle distance is closed, can’t you fight anymore? Hurry up and continue clearing out the Zergs! The shield consumes too much energy. The denser the Zergs, the faster the shield’s energy will be depleted. Quickly stabilize the advantage that Chu Rong has cleared out!”

The commanding officer came to his senses and felt that his previous reaction was too embarrassing. He quickly acted, and the sound of gunfire rang out above the crevice once again.

In the deep underground, Chu Rong cleared one cage after another that housed the Zergs, and his spiritual power quickly mapped out the terrain of this Zerg breeding ground. With a clear target in mind, he rushed towards the largest, open room on the bottom floor.

The height of the building inside was too low for the mecha to move forward comfortably, so he simply blasted a path through. He didn’t worry at all that his bombardment might collapse this underground building, which was even larger than Ning Tianxing’s laboratory.

“Boom!”

Another wall blocking his path was directly broken through by Chu Rong. The area covered by his spiritual power trembled faintly for a moment. Then, within his scanning range, three more spacious rooms suitable for placing teleportation devices appeared. They were evenly distributed in different directions, perfectly occupying the four cardinal directions along with the initially scanned room.

Chu Rong paused for a moment, then smirked.

That monster was indeed here, and it was even trying to disrupt his spiritual reconnaissance.

Ignoring the other three spacious rooms, Chu Rong walked straight towards the initially sensed room.

“Arrogant people from the Chu family.”

A slick voice suddenly sounded from behind him. Chu Rong’s eyes narrowed, but instead of turning around, he quickened his pace forward and aimed the cannon at the Zergs that had appeared again, blasting them away. Unlike Ning Tianxing’s laboratory, this underground building was filled with nothing but Zergs and their eggs.

“In fact, the first Zerg that was lured here was just an accident.”

The slick voice continued, and at the same time, the surrounding Zergs became more excited. The neural waves of the Zergs in the air suddenly became stronger, beginning to oppress his spiritual power scattered outside.

“Boom!”

He blasted away the locking device on the platform and flew downwards.

“Later, the Zerg Queen was also lured here. Ah, what a delicious feast it was, but unfortunately, she was a bit disobedient.” The slick voice followed him like a shadow, and the Zergs closed in layer by layer, trying to trap his footsteps.

“Your mother is also too disobedient. Her mind is too sharp, so I had to let her rest forever.”

As if a cold wind blew from behind, Chu Rong paused for a moment, then his attacks became even more ruthless. The mecha enveloped with killing intent and hostility quickly rushed downstairs.

“In fact, if it weren’t for the first little crawler running away, we wouldn’t have become enemies at all. I’m not a terrible anti-human, on the contrary, I love your fresh and wonderful bodies.”

“Boom!”

The mecha once again blasted through the ground. Suddenly, a faint sound of wings flapping came, and then an experimental subject, protected by the Zergs, burst out diagonally and exploded, creating a black hole. The mecha, moving at extreme speed, was almost sucked in.

Chu Rong promptly released his spiritual power to envelop the mecha, then fired a full blast at the black hole!

The black hole dissipated, clearing the path once again.

“How does it feel to possess such terrifying power?”

The slick voice suddenly grew louder, as if whispering right next to his ear, with a tempting tone, “So, you and I are actually the same. We both only seek to become stronger—”

“Shut up!”

Chu Rong finally spoke up. With the mecha about to reach the open room, he changed direction and accelerated towards the center of the underground building. His spiritual power formed into a sharp net, coldly saying, “Your deception technique is not even as good as that of a newly trained recruit.”

The slick voice abruptly stopped, then a piercing screech sounded as if directly in his mind. “Boom!” The ground behind him, which had not been blasted through, was suddenly shattered by the Zergs. A large number of Zergs and several experimental subjects rushed towards him with bloodthirsty intent.

The entire building became chaotic, as the massive spiritual power suppression and the contamination of Zerg neural waves pressed down on Chu Rong, seemingly trying to crush him into pieces!

But Chu Rong’s expression remained unchanged. He directly charged into the encirclement of Zergs and experimental subjects, then blasted them one by one. The experimental subjects exploded, creating one black hole after another, attempting to suck in the only anomaly — Chu Rong.